Red-breasted Nuthatch

The Red-breasted Nuthatch is a small, energetic bird of coniferous and mixed forests, smaller and more colorful than its relative the White-breasted Nuthatch. It has blue-gray upperparts, a black cap, and a bold black eye-stripe bordered above by a white eyebrow, with rusty-orange underparts that give the species its name (males typically show deeper rust color than females).

Like other nuthatches, it has a compact body, short tail, and long straight bill, and is well known for creeping headfirst down tree trunks and branches while foraging.

Key Field Marks

• Rusty-orange underparts (deeper in males, paler in females)
• Black cap and bold black eye-stripe bordered by a white eyebrow stripe
• Blue-gray upperparts and short tail
• Small size, smaller than the White-breasted Nuthatch

Similar Species

• White-breasted Nuthatch: larger, with plain white underparts (only rusty on the flanks) and no bold black eye-stripe.
• Brown-headed Nuthatch: has a brown cap rather than black, and lacks the strong rusty underparts, restricted to southeastern pine forests.
• Black-capped Chickadee: superficially similar black-and-white head pattern but has a black bib (not an eye-stripe) and lacks the nuthatch's bark-creeping behavior and rusty underparts.

Habitat

Red-breasted Nuthatches are strongly associated with coniferous and mixed forests, especially spruce, fir, and pine, though they also use mixed woodlands during migration and winter.

Range

They breed across the boreal forest of Canada and Alaska, the northern United States, and higher-elevation coniferous forests in the western mountains and Appalachians, and winter more widely across the U.S.

Migration

This species is an irregular, irruptive migrant: in years of poor cone crops in the north, large numbers move south and east well beyond their typical winter range, while in other years many stay in or near their breeding range.

Behavior

Red-breasted Nuthatches forage actively on tree trunks and branches, often descending headfirst, and are known to smear sticky conifer resin around the entrance to their nest cavity, possibly to deter predators or competitors.

Voice

Their call is a nasal, high-pitched, tin-horn-like "yank-yank," higher-pitched and more repetitive than the White-breasted Nuthatch's call, often the first clue to their presence in a conifer stand.

Feeding

They eat insects and spiders gleaned from bark during the breeding season, and rely heavily on conifer seeds in fall and winter, often caching seeds in bark crevices for later use.

Nesting & Breeding

Pairs excavate their own nest cavity in soft or decayed wood, unusual among nuthatches, and famously apply conifer pitch around the entrance hole. They typically lay 5-6 eggs in a single brood.